"NSA Director Keith Alexander says his agency's analysts, which until recently included Edward Snowden among their ranks, take protecting "civil liberties and privacy and the security of this nation to their heart every day."

Oh gee, well if they take it to their heart every day then I guess you should just carry on.

Not surprised. The government has overstepped its power for decades and no one has been too interested in stopping it. Find me a candidate who will bring the NSA and FBI to heel without also being an anti-establishment nutcase and I'll vote for him.

That's what I am hoping Snowden and Greenwald are doing. They release the most innocuous stuff first to get the powers-that-be to say publicly that "That's the extent of the surveillance", and then drop the more alarming stuff that demonstrates that the NSA and others lie, lie, lie.

Democrats tell Liberals to "shut up you are giving the GOP a win" to make them stop talking about this government overreach. Republicans are pretty solidly against him and tell their base to "shut up you are being partisan" to those who speak up against this.

Notice a pattern? Both the GOP and Dems are telling everyone to shut up, and that says something.

If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

Wait... from where is this argument coming from? Surely he means "without any other legal authorization 'sought'" rather than "required".

Given the gun-jumping that usually abounds with NSA stories, I'm betting what was actually meant by "can" in the meeting was that an analyst isn't physically prevented from accessing domestic communications prior to court authorization. But that doesn't tacitly mean they are authorized to.

cman:Democrats tell Liberals to "shut up you are giving the GOP a win" to make them stop talking about this government overreach. Republicans are pretty solidly for this and tell their base to "shut up you are being partisan" to those who speak up against this.

Notice a pattern? Both the GOP and Dems are telling everyone to shut up, and that says something.

I really cannot figure out why people are so upset by all these activities by the NSA. Seriously, what is the big deal? They are NOT interested in your personal information. They are not trying to catch people breaking the law. All they care about is Setec Astronomy. They are just trying to improve our understanding of the stars. So all you paranoid conspiracy theorists just need to lighten up.

Pro-tip to the teahadists: most liberals are angry at Obama over this, just as we were angry at Bush. For those of you who are only now "outraged" about this since a brown guy is in the White House, and didn't give a f*ck when this entire program began under Bush because "MURKA!!!", sorry, you have no right to an opinion. Eat a bag of dicks.

Not that I'm defending them... but for the record, the NSA has been intercepting every wireless communication in existence since... well forever. Its generally referred to as ECHELON. You think your cell phone only has a range of a few miles? Hah... with more sensitive receivers, they can scoop that shiat out of the air a much longer distance away. Not that it matters, since they use satellites for most of it anyhow. Cant get away from those things. Which reminds me, and this is very important... er.. hang on brb doorbell.

Mock26:I really cannot figure out why people are so upset by all these activities by the NSA. Seriously, what is the big deal? They are NOT interested in your personal information. They are not trying to catch people breaking the law. All they care about is Setec Astronomy. They are just trying to improve our understanding of the stars. So all you paranoid conspiracy theorists just need to lighten up.

Would you mind terribly if every so often, while you were away from your home, that the local police used their personal copy of your house key to enter your house, do a quick look-see to see if you were growing any pot plants, and then left without touching anything?

cman:Democrats tell Liberals to "shut up you are giving the GOP a win" to make them stop talking about this government overreach. Republicans are pretty solidly against him and tell their base to "shut up you are being partisan" to those who speak up against this.

Notice a pattern? Both the GOP and Dems are telling everyone to shut up, and that says something.

Hell, the Republican leadership is criticizing the Democratic leadership for not defending the NSA enough.

Meanwhile, thankfully, there are still a few Democrats who will speak out publicly against this bullshiat.

I am strongly against the method by which the politician chose to bring this 'information' to light. He asked targeted questioning with the intent of trapping the individual under question to respond in a way which enabled their own specific paraphrasing of events. Until the actual transcript of the classified briefing is released, this is all based on the commentary of a politician, who was 'startled'.

There are many ways to interpret that information, and if someone makes a presentation behind close doors that you personally don't agree with, releasing the information in this fashion gives YOU the ultimate control over how that information is perceived UNTIL such a time as the other parties decide to speak openly about it. If they have already concluded that they cannot be more open without creating issues, that effectively gives ONE person the power to manipulate the situations perspective in any manner they wish.

Would you put it past a politician to manipulate a situation for personal gain? I personally wouldn't.